Halloween Past of Big Brother

2007
Armyman

2006
Ghost

2005
Hopper from the Bugs Life movie

Halloween Past of Big Brother Continues

2004
Fireman

2003
Cute Boy

2002
Tigger

Many Blessings

Week of September 21st-27th

This past week flew by. We had beautiful weather, family visits, and of course home school.

First, our home school went fairly smoothly. We did get behind on some of our reading, but managed to get caught up through the weekend. Phonics is going well, my son is sounding out words well and even recognizes some words by sight. Passed his first verbal spelling test with 100%. Number recognition is starting to take shape. My son can easily count to 50, but after the number 11, he has a little trouble recognizing the number by sight. Got a 100 pocket number chart and this seems to help. We will play more number games to try to make it more fun. My son gets easily frustrated and is extremely hard on himself. My son loves all the Ambleside readings though the stories from Fifty Famous Stories and The Aesop for Children seem to go over his head. Narrations are slow to come. I plan to incorporate some of the suggestions from Simply Charlotte Mason this coming week. Overall, a good week.

Family came to visit on Thursday and stay til lunch Friday. Nice to see family. All my siblings and some cousins, Aunt and Uncle closed down a restaurant Thursday night. Boy, our family has grown. Four new additions in the last year and half. This Christmas will be fun. The siblings decided to draw names this year. This way each have one adult to buy for. The focus will now be on just the kids and of course the food.

The weather has been just spotless. Finally cooling down though today the high is 86 degrees. You can still feel it in the air. This week we will get all the Fall decorations down. What fun. I made pumpkin bread last night, yummy.

We made plans to go to the Magic Kingdom October 16th for their not-so-scary halloween celebration. It is from 7pm til midnight. The kids go trick-a-treating, everyone wears costumes. Fun for all. We are looking forward to it. They will let you into the park around 4pm, so we are going down that morning and spend time in Orlando. I have read about a place that is a walk through the Bible. I am looking for info because I think we would enjoy this too. Oh! I just laughed to myself. Think about it, we will go and walk through the Bible then go put on costumes and go to Magic Kingdom's not-so-scary halloween.
Oh well. Many Blessings.

Artist Study on the Go

I take the twins to a play place once a week. It is like a big indoor gym for little ones. While the twins play and are in my eye sight, my oldest and I work on a little home school. This last time our focus was on our artist study and the artwork chosen for the first four weeks. Frederick Remington is our artist and the work in the frame is titled The Smoke Signal. My ds is drawing his version of The Smoke Signal. Afterwords, there was copywork and poetry, and a math game, of course, a snack too. When we got home all that was left for the day was our readings and phonics. We do these when the twins are down for a nap. We do leave a free reading for our bed time reading. This is a must.

Geography

Since we have begun Ambleside online readings, we look at maps and a world globe often. My 6 yr old ds has become quite curious about other places and people. This book was recommended on a yahoo group I frequently read. Decided to order and give it a try. We have just begun, but we love it. We are going to cover one country a week. The book has about two pages per country, bringing alive the culture, traditions of these countries. The book contains maps of where each country is located. Most of all there is a section to help you pray for each country. We are not going into a in depth study of these countries. We are using this book as a intro to geography. I am so glad we ordered it.

Zoo Pictures

Hello everybody especially my Grandma. What to know what we did twice this past week? We went to the zoo. My big brother had home school classes one day and the other was just for fun.

My big brother learned about giraffe skulls. My big brother asked where the rest of the bones were. He told the zoo workers he would help them look for them.

We got to climb on top of alligators...

draw with crayons.

I am drawing...well, scribble, but Mommy says she loves it.

My twin brother is drawing...well, scribble too. He is a copy cat.

My big brother is drawing a map of the whole zoo so we don't get lost. Thanks big brother.

We got to cool off in the water play area.

Don't I have the best big brother.

One of the few times we were in the same area.

My big brother relaxing, he does lots of thinking.

Oh, we also saw lots of animals. My big brother loved this bird. I think Mommy said it was a Whooping Crane. I don't know I just think it is pretty. Hope your last week was as fun as ours.

Hello

Our Mommy and Daddy are currently looking for new beds for us. We don't know why. But we are looking forward to having big boy beds. Escaping will be alot easier and quicker.

The Great Escape

If I just.....

Yes, We know you are watching

Here grab my hair to help you get out, no problem.

Okay, now that you are out, what about me?

Bird of the Month for September- Red-winged Blackbird

We are studying birds. The Wild Birds Unlimited website has a bird of the month. This month it is the Red-winged Blackbird. We see these birds alot. My ds reminded me of some we took pictures of a few months back. I was amazed he remembered. He also reminded me that when we first saw this beautiful bird, we thought it was injured. But, upon closer observation, we discovered the colors on the wings.

We started a bird sketch book. Here is my son's first entry.

My Day Starts By.....

Marathon training. Alarm clock set. 4 am. Wake, put on running shoes. Don't forget to take off nightgown and put on proper running clothes. Run. Stretch. Home by 6:15 am. House quiet.
15 minutes past by. Hello God, today I pray for.... Quiet gone. Day starts.

Tweaking Already

It is just our third day of Ambleside online and I am tweaking our schedule, well, changing some of the choices we made. We are not changing any of the readings schedules, just a few things I had added. First, the character workbook we had chosen to use with my 6 yr old ds is a little beyond his young years, so I will put it up and will use that book in a later year. Next, had to simplify our copy work somewhat. I will not be using what I thought. Instead, I am focusing on quality of his writing and not quantity. His handwriting needs more focused work. As far as Ambleside online, we are loving the readings. We have art paper available and if my son wants to draw what he has heard, he can. Narrations are interesting so far. My son has a vibrate imagination and likes to "add to" a story. When he does this I just give him a look and he goes back to narrating what he heard. All in all, I think Ambleside online is a good fit for my son.

Aware and Prepared

Yes, it is that time of year when we who live on the coast keep an eye on the Atlantic. Everyone goes about their daily lives, but all are aware. Hannah, Ike, and now Depression #10, we know where you are. We track you on our hurricane charts, well, my 6 yr old ds does. Hmmm.....
Maybe a great time to for a weather lesson on hurricanes.

Above are a couple of pictures off our front porch.

Fullfilling Week

We have just completed our third week of home school. This week we focused on phonics, math, handwriting, and read alouds. My son's phonics studies are really going well. Last year we really hit some walls with reading and phonics, so we took a summer break(3 months). This seemed to really help. He is ready now and anxious to start reading. We are using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann. We tried other programs without success. This is a perfect fit for my ds.
We are on our third Little House book, On the Banks of Plum Creek. My ds truly loves these books.
After our torture of a first week of home school, we took a more relaxed approach. We achieved much. I am more relaxed, my ds is more relaxed. We are enjoying our learning time together.
We start with AO on Tuesday. Excitement, nervousness abounds.
I am still not overly happy with our children's Bible book. I have tried three and they seem to be toooo watered down. I will keep looking.
I have found a couple of devotional books that we enjoy, Little Visits With God by Allan Hart Jahsmann and Martin P. Simon. It was first written in 1957. It has a short devotional with Scripture readings, questions, and a prayer. Quite a gem. For my little toddlers, Focus on the Family has a devotional book called Playtime Devotions written by Christine Harder Tangvald. The twins love this book.
I hope this past week has been a blessed week for everyone. Remember to follow Him in all you do.

Fay

Fay just wants to stay. This week has mostly been about waiting for Fay- Tropical Storm Fay that is. She finally arrived Wednesday night and still is here. Maybe by Saturday they say she will be gone. Limbs are everywhere, trees are down, many without electricity, and did I forget about the flooding? Rain, Rain, Rain.....with wind gusts sometimes as high as 50 mph. Oh tornadoes too. We go through hurricane threats every year, living on the coast you expect it, but this girl Fay is different. She won't leave! Home schooling has been a bust this week, except for our Bible study and free readings, we have done nothing else.
Rain, Rain, go away, my sons and I want to go out to play.

Start of Our Home School Journey

First week of home school.

Our first day of home school was Monday. We are using August as a "prep and review" time and also as a adjustment time for both my 6 yr old ds and the family. We will start Ambleside online curriculum September 1st. Well, today is Friday, we survived the first week. It has been both a blessing and tiring. Having the younger twins made it a challenge. Nap times seem to be the best time for phonics and readings. Handwriting and some math concepts were done during the twins playtime with frequent breaks for my 6 yr old ds. Wednesday we started eating breakfast and doing our Bible lesson, memory verse, and work on our Bible timeline before the twins got up. This was around 6:30 am. I know this is early, but he has started to wake up at 6:15am last week, so I decided to take advantage of it. Besides, it is our special time together. Also, he has had breakfast, dressed, morning hygiene done, and his bed made before the twins wake up.
I am finding that it is taking longer to do some of the review work. Alot of the review work is textbook based. It is okay, but boring. We are concentrating on proper formation of letters and numbers when doing copy work, this has been slow going, but coming along. Review of math concepts also is mostly textbook based. Next week, I am going to do more living math, maybe even start our math curriculum early. It is more hands-on based.
I am finding the days are flying by. The TV is not turned on at all til maybe 3 or 4 pm and that is a movie for the twins. My computer time is down to practically zero during the day, except today, we finished early and the twins are still napping. I get up at 6am, but I think next week I will start getting up around 5:30 am, so I can have some "me" time.
Anyway, that about does it for our first week of home school. Boy, this post got lengthy fast. Many blessings.

Water Break

A friend of mine gave us the double pull cart a few weeks back. Once I got my bike back into riding condition, we were off. Early mornings are all we can do for now, heat and humidity to high. We are having a blast.

Little Dynamites

Our Mommy says we are little dynamites.

Whatever do you mean?

We just are just exploring our world.

See, how curious we are?

No, we would never think to turn the water on and have it go all over the floor.

No, not your little pumpkins.

Besides, have we broken anything?



Okay, okay......but at least it was not your good lampshade.

Planning For Homeschool

Research, research, research, this is what has consumed much of the last year and this year. Prepping and planning for our first year of home schooling. We have chosen our curriculum, bought the books, set up the spaces. Are we ready? As I thought about this question another question came to mind. What do we want for our home school? Well, let me give it a try----unhurried meals ,mornings in the park, praising our Lord with song and dance, tickles, art, snuggles on the couch while reading worthy books , conversation, building a fort, biking, writing, joy in the simple things, humbling of the heart, and gratitude. Yes, I think that is what we want as a family for our home school.

Our home school journey starts August 11th, 2008. Many Blessings.

Simple Reminders

This angel use to sit on my Big Mamma's window sill. I was able to keep this after she died several years ago. Sometimes simple reminders are all we need. Thank you Big Mamma. Many blessings to all.

Through My Sons Eyes

Indian, Revolutionary, Alamo, Medieval War

Pure boyhood imagination.

Ponderings

This past week I have done alot of pondering. Hmmmm. Wanting to try line drying our laundry. What is the best and most price reasonable portable line? What about trying soap nuts instead of laundry detergent? Looking up cross stitch patterns. Do I want to try to cross stitch? The need to limit my computer time to early am and after everyone is in bed. No more daytime computer time. Focus on the kids. Try the unplug challenge thing, you know, no TV during the day. Wondering about homeschooling. Should we start when public schools start, which is August first around here. Should I allow the public school to dictate when we should start? Did I miss taking the kids to their 18 month check up, must have because they are 19 months. What about immunizations? We have not given any since they were 6 months old, should I just wait til they are three and give only the ones we feel are important? This is another discussion for later. The need to up my running if I still plan on running in the Disney marathon in January. When is the best time for me to run, 4 am, 5 am, Saturday or Sunday long runs?
As you can see lots of ponderings. Wonder what I will ponder next and will all this pondering lead into any action?

Artist at Work

Rough sketch.

Paint.

Masterpiece.

Artist's description: Waterfall, palm tree, rainbow on a island.
Worth: Millions to Mommy and Daddy.